


A Hellscape Meeting

by Kroumios



Category: Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23053399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kroumios/pseuds/Kroumios
Summary: Dimentio makes an encounter in Hell. This is the result.PS: yes, he is travelling to different afterlives. So no need to mention the existence of Bonechill.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	A Hellscape Meeting

Never before had a curse been so beneficial. 

Or, at the very least, so inoffensive. 

This was what the cursed in question thought. 

Since his defeat at the hands of the heroes of the Light Prognosticus, Dimentio, magical jester, had been cursed by the queen of the Underwhere. For attempting to destroy all worlds to remake them in his image, he was doomed to wander between dimensions for eternity, just like the maiden who had stopped him – a long story, on which we shall not dwell. 

But he did not care. For a magician like him, dimensional travel was a natural occurrence. 

He wandered in the many abysses that took the criminals after their death, himself banished from the realm of the living for his crimes. But he did not tremble before the punishments they offered – on the contrary, he smiled, he laughed an uncanny sadism. Sisyphus’ woes he found amusing, he found Tantalus’ misfortunes delightful. 

Only one thing bothered him in in this occurrence, and it was his body. Dimension usually looked like a royal court jester, clothed in many hues, his face like a half-black half-white mask. Ever since his defeat, he had kept his physical body, or rather what was left of it. This body was now partially destroyed, had lost some of its colours and pieces. And this laughing fool could only crawl down on the floors of the dimensions he traversed; aside from this discomfort, his fate did not truly bother him.

Even less so when one day – when was it? He had forgotten – an opportunity was offered to him. 

When changing dimensions, he found himself in a peculiar location. It was a gigantic cavern, filled with obscurity. The ground he laid on was cold, damp and slippery – ice. Under the solid water surface, he could see giant stalagmites. And by guiding his eyes over the rocky lower ground, he wound up staring at a giant being, kneeled on the rocks, and stuck in the ice above the waist. A being so large it could have destroyed him immediately, crushing him like a mere bug.  
Yet Dimentio did not worry. 

“Ah ah ah! What a fantastic creation! Oh yes, it almost had me fooled !”

A voice echoed in the cavern to answer: 

“Tis unexpected.”

With those words, the cavern’s lower ground shook, and lava flowed between the stalagmites. The flow brought light to the cavern, sinking the knees of the creature that did not react. The lava rose, but stopped before touching the ice, after swallowing the creature’s thighs almost entirely. The light provided by the lava was surprisingly bright, so much that the details on the creature’s body were now clearly visible. 

And as Dimentio had guessed, the titan before him was but an illusion. An immense automaton, animated with chains that imitated a puppeteer’s strings. A simple intimidation spectacle, one that would have fooled anybody but a master of make-believes such as the magician. 

This was not the only thing that would have surprised a simple damned soul. Engraved in the creature’s abdomen was a throne. And sitting on the throne was someone who looked like a young man with skeletal wings. Beyond this detail, he had messy blonde hair that went towards a silver hue, and was finely dressed. A being of great beauty yet also intimidating, whose posture forced an almost immediate respect. 

“You are the first one not to be surprised when seeing me.” the figure resumed. 

“Oh, but I do not insult this fabrication in any way. Au contraire, the titan stuck in ice is a stratagem worthy of the prince of liars!”  
The addressed could not retain a small entertained laugh. 

“It is true, some name me this way.” he said. “Others name me Satan, Beelzebub, or Lucifer... in any case, I once was the Enlightened, yet now I am the Fallen to they who call themselves good.”

He sighed, then continued: 

“This foolish Maker believes himself allowed all. Twice we managed to bring corruption to mankind, but twice his light shines through again.”

The Fallen enquired into his interlocutor with interest. He was surprised when he realized the latter’s situation. But it was simply surprised, he felt no pity. 

“Wait a moment. You are no soul. Despite its sorry state, you did manage to keep your body. Yet everything tells me that you are indeed dead: I sense no life within you. How could this be?” he asked. 

“Oh, it's a long story, milord.” Answered his guest – if he could even be called such. “I am cursed, you see. I wander between the realms, a dead man in a shambled body, since that time when I tried to destroy the world.” 

Once again, the Fallen sighed. 

“Again, and again. You are one of those fools who think they can alter the flow of things.” 

“Hum? Pardon?”

“I do not insult you, friend,” the prince of liars clarified, “but those ambitions shan't be fulfilled for as long as the Maker watches from his edenic nest. Should a fool try to satisfy his hubris on the entire world, he shall make sure his dear mankind take care of it. Should it fail, time shall bring order back, and only as a last resort does he ever intervene himself. So goes the cycle of things, of good and evil: we fight tirelessly, but despite the fact this loop holds merely from his own will, the good he represents always is victor...”

His words made the cavern shake he spoke, as he showed his disdain for said Maker. 

“Oh, you seem jealous. It seems parental issues reach even the celestial and subterranean forces!” Dimentio joked. 

“Do not _MOCK ME!”_ the Fallen reacted. His words were joined by the cavern shaking more intensely as he shouted, the lava’s light intensifying to the point of being blinding, and the arms of the giant automaton striking the ice’s surface. When the magician could see again, he saw that the ice had fractured and released steam.  
“Very well, I won't bring up this sensible issue again.” Dimentio declared. In reality, he couldn’t care less about the feeling of others, but this example of hellish anger had actually made him flinch. 

“Supreme insult to remind of my affiliation with this hypocrite;” the Fallen kept going. “Maker of an imperfect world I had no trouble corrupting. And he still calls himself the good Father. Thou only guarantee thy eternal victory!” 

“Ah ah ah! An eternal cycle of victorious good? What a pity! But it seems there was an unexpected event....”

“Are you, perchance, speaking of your body?”

“Oh yes! I myself do not know how I turned out to be this way, but your words present this occasion as a novelty. Yet this mishap could be our chance. From this, we could force the flow of things to fluctuate... and this time, ensure a victory for the forces of evil!”

The Fallen seemed to ponder the offer. It was tempting. 

“Are you taking advantage of the situation to coax me into this?”

“Far from me, Milord! In any case, either we succeed, and your victory comes, or we fail, and things go back to their original course. You have no risk in this, milord.”  
This seemed to convince him. 

“Very well, you may use another body to replace your shambled one. Sweetie?”

“Are you married, milord? This is new.”

From behind the automaton came a young woman with silver dress and hair, looking down. She carried in her arms a teenage girl’s dead body, with her hair stark white. 

“This carcass is new. It can be used without bringing too many suspicious looks. You have no problem with being in a female body, I hope.” The evil one announced, using the verb “hope” as convention. In reality, he had only hope that this gambit would pay off. 

“Oh, it is actually very flattering!” the magician answered “Why would a scheme from the Devil himself not include myself pretending to be someone I'm not!” 

“Despite your fox-like cunning,” the Fallen corrected him, “this lie shan't be needed. Your force will only revive her as long as your original body reforms. When the time comes, the forces of evil from the surface shall be obliged to obey you - even though I seldom intervene directly, my word on them is absolute. Sweetie, you can leave now.” 

After putting the body down, the silver maiden – whose hands, Dimentio noticed, were themselves made of pure silver – went back behind the fabrication. 

“Why are her hands...?”

“Oh, see this as the symbol of our union.” Answered the Fallen before the magician could even finish his question. “Replacing her hands of flesh with hands of silver is prettier than a mere ring, do you think not?” 

The magician let out a small sadistic laugh from between his lips. “It is indeed, milord!”

And thus, began the operation which could only imperfectly be called a metempsychosis, or even a metensomatosis… 

Caroline woke up in the ambulance one hour after the accident. 

“She woke up? It's a miracle!” 

“Ugh... what happened? Where am I?” the patient asked groggily. 

“You have been in a car crash.” The nurse announced. “We thought for a moment that you wouldn't make it, but your heart restarted just now! We're getting you to a hospital, where your injuries will be taken care of. You have been hit pretty hard, but hang on, we can still save you.”

Caroline recovered from her injuries in record time. One week after the fact she could get out of the hospital without too much problem. 

She could even go back to her school, where the entire class welcomed her with open arms. 

Soon after the forces of evil struck again, and the miraculous put all of her efforts into the eternal battle. 

Yet no one, not even said miraculous, expected that evil’s vengeance waited patiently within her bosom…

**Author's Note:**

> If you found any of this offensive, it was not the intention. I'm not anti-religious or a satanist or whatnot. 
> 
> And if you found the premise similar to that of Shattered Skies: the Morning Lights, well... it kind of is, really. But this is just meant as a quick one-shot.


End file.
